Typewriter Video Series - Episode 103: Remington Quiet-Riter

[@thethriftyfawn]

Joe, this is one of your best, if not THE BEST video you've ever posted! This such an amazing start to finish overview of shopping, assessment, preparation for disassembly and what's needed, disassembly, cleaning, reassembly, comparison between professional vs at home servicing and cleaning... absolutely incredible job! Hope youtube picks it up on the algorithm and pushes it to more eyes to see, because it deserves far more views. Great work Joe! edit: forgot to mention storage, and "herd management" lol

[@OlderThanDirt-ii3rp]

Look around your town for a sign that says "Auto Parts" LOL! In there they sell a spray can of Carborator cleaner. Take the case off, take it outside and anything that needs cleaning, hit it with that carborator cleaner. That will quickly do a better job than a bath. Anything that needs a drop of oil, use STP Oil Treatment and a toothpick to deliver the drops. That stuff is slicker than deer guts on a doorknob LOL!

[@sLifestyleAndFun]

I just bought one of these today. Only 35 dollars. It fully works. I love it.

[@jojib7621]

I believe the stencil position is corrective I recently inherited one and although only black ribbon was in it the original dead ribbon we found while cleaning was black red and white

[@jojib7621]

And or it's intended for black paper

[@dr.tracykreidernd]

Thanks! I AM TOTALLY NEW TO ALL THIS AND I LOOOOVE YOUR STYLE AND DETAILS. I CAN'T THANK YOU ENOUGH

[@someonespadre]

I’m working on an Office-Riter: 1. When the ribbon is out the keys don’t go very far. If both ribbon reverse things on the ribbon hubs are pressed in then the keys work. 2. The left knob unscrews away from you, there is no set screw. 3 I removed the platen which was extremely easy. The line feed fell out which is 2 parts. I have a working Quiet-Riter so hopefully it isn’t too hard to put back together. Also removed the paper tray…there is loads of dirt, hair and gunk under there.

[@wageslave9951]

I have a Remington quiet riter, not the same as yours(no one key) but nevertheless it's my favorite and most used, even over a Smith Corona. Just a flawless tank honestly

[@tobeornott1684]

I have the same on do you just use the lower case L

[@aletcetera9883]

I’m so glad I watched this video. I just bought one of these at an antique shop and they had it in the case wrong but I’m a Gen-Zer that’s never used a typewriter before this so I didn’t know they had it in wrong and I’ve been carefully lowering it into the lid to store it when not in use and carefully pulling it back out when I use it all week 😂.

[@ronnybarela]

I just bought one of these for $5 today. Everything seems to work good, it’s a little dirty and needs some TLC, but still in pretty good condition.

[@someonespadre]

EDIT: solved most of the issues today. Surprisingly easy to get it working again. The tab set finger was frozen, got it moving again. Cleaned the body (off the machine). It is green outside, gray inside the house. Sometimes it skips an extra space when releasing the tab key, in other words the stop is set at 40 but it stops at 41. According to the service manual the tab stop blade is supposed to be about 1/32 below the set stops at rest. Mine is 1/16 or more. So since it has to drop so much further down to rest the carriage has time to go an extra space before it catches the pinion wheel. The paper release is missing parts, don’t have parts to fix it. The left knob unscrews to remove. Also paid $50 for a 1957 QR with 44 keys. It types beautifully, no bad behavior. Upper/lower alignment slightly off. Margin release doesn’t pop back up, spring is present, very dirty in back where the thing is, probably needs cleaning. Cleared a tab, carriage stuck, push MR, carriage moves, in back pushed down all tab stops with my finger which set them, so that fixed the carriage sticking problem. A lot of play in tab set-clear lever so something is off there. Only other thing is paper release doesn’t release so will investigate that. But it types beautifully, very smooth and responsive. Will need to take off the body and carriage panels off to see what is happening. Probably mostly just needs cleaning.

[@KurisuYamato]

Hey Joe! Wonderful find! I have the very closely related Letter-Riter and quite love it! Interesting to see the spacing on this being the way it is - never quite noticed on mine if it's like that or not, and that ribbon vibrator seems equally odd. That being said, it seems like these machines are built super tough as I've yet to really see much in the way of issues with any out in the wild (one with a delatched tab set / clear, but that's about it) or many repair posts on Facebook. Incidentally, with mine it had one big problem - mold! The thing was covered in it. Still has a bit of a smell, and I had to rip out the back padding so the bell would ring, but it's better now. Still, quite a thing to bring home a biohazard typing machine! Got it clean though, so all is well.

[@eggy68]

Hey Joe, Bill here at Mesa Typewriter Exchange lost the use of his dip tank years ago. His approach is pretty much the same as yours and his customers are generally happy ;)

[@MichaelGriffin_]

after watching this the fully functional one that I got for twenty dollars was a steal

[@KlingonCaptain]

I was just given a Remington Quiet-Riter today for free. I know the original owner who used it to learn how to type. It's been in storage for decades and is covering on mold, but it appears to be it excellent shape. I'm looking for a video on how to clean it.

[@mikequinlan9585]

I just bought one of these for $20.00 at a thrift store! 😊

[@Surtak]

That's considered expensive over there? Jeez I'm glad to find a typewriter under a hundred euros.

[@RabbiSteve]

Thanks for sharing this and for all your videos. I’m considering getting one of these that needs a new ribbon and has sticky keys.

[@mrhobs]

A can of compressed air probably wouldn't do much for a really dirty unit, would it? Or would you not even recommend that? (Seems like moisture comes out, but... its supposed to be good for electronics, so I figured it'd be safe for this... guess I'll keep watching to see what you do.)

[@troy808]

Very nice addition Joe, not to mention the mechanics/mechanical operations working properly! Plus you always have room for another typewriter :) have a good one

[@allanbradbury2106]

I just bought one of these and it's in fantastic shape as far as I can tell. I was trying to put the case back on it and the carriage seems to have fallen off I'm having trouble getting everything back together right. Any way you could help me out?

[@BooksForever]

Don’t think of the ribbon setting as a Black or Red or Stencil on this machine. Instead, think of it as three height positions to maximize your fresh use of the full width of the black ribbon. Makes sense if you think about it.

[@Joe_VanCleave]

Great way of looking at it!

[@mrhobs]

Did you mention which years these were built? I have one nearly, or exactly the same. (Didn't intend to collect, but now I have 4 typewriters... uh oh.) Just barely starting to learn about them. Would be cool to use this one, but my Classic 12 appears to be in much better shape... 1975 if I had to guess. Also have a nicely working Selectric II, and an older looking, slightly smaller Smith Corona electric... case doesn't seem to want to stay latched, and keys like to jam... anyway, sorry to waste your time, not much point to this!

[@billogle4776]

Joe, the escapement is OK.. escapement trips on all machines have foward and back movement. I cant remember precisely, but I don't think the Quietwriter series had a stencil position on the colour switch, it's a centre strike position for all black ribbons.. Light oil very sparingly on all moving parts ..It's a nice machine. Good work Joe

[@kathleenmacellis751]

Amazing video !!!! Great find !!!!

[@johnc.bojemski1757]

I haven't ever looked around here in our local "antique" stores for a typewriter. Most seem to carry just furniture and some curios too. Guess I've gotta go downtown to NYC to a typewriter shop to find one in good working order?

[@Joe_VanCleave]

It's harder to find good machines for cheap these days.

[@johnc.bojemski1757]

@@Joe_VanCleave Thanks Joe! I'm an eternal optimist though (With PLENTY of time on my hands to "browse"!) so I'll continue, Don Quixote-like until I find my own "impossible dream" sitting neglected on a back shelf somewhere. Hey? It might make for a decent web or hard copy article too, eh? Keep up the good work and advocacy you do for us fans of all things "CLICKETY-CLACK"!

[@Gl4uc0n]

I found one almost exactly like yours for $70. I had a Royal Dart a few years ago that broke and I didn't know how to repair it, so that's gone. I'm so glad to have a typewriter again!

[@bluemoonkraken8410]

I have this exact typewriter. Got it for I think 35. Whicb I was surprised it was so dang cheap for a typewriter

[@erickahillerud7098]

Hey Joe! I have watched your video several times and have found it extremely helpful. I am cleaning and repairing a quiet writer like in your video but have hit a snag with attaching the left panel near the platen. I didn’t make notes when I took it apart and am now wondering how to get the line space regulator behind the panel. ( this is the panel you couldn’t get off in the video)Thanks so much!

[@Joe_VanCleave]

site.xavier.edu/polt/typewriters/MechanicalInstructionsRemingtonPortableTypewriters1953.pdf

[@Joe_VanCleave]

As per the manual, to remove the left side panel unscrew the left platen knob by turning it CCW toward the rear of the machine; you may have to grip the platen and give it lots of force to unscrew the knob. Then there will be two screws to remove, the left panel comes off. The lever near the bottom, the line space disconnect, can be flipped down to help remove and reinstall.

[@Simplefireant]

I got mine for 6 rucking dollars

[@kathleenmacellis751]

I love your channel !

[@TypewriterMinutes]

Enjoyed watching this one. I really enjoy our Quiet-Riters. Any luck with the ribbon vibrator? The white middle dot definitely is stencil mode.

[@Joe_VanCleave]

I was so caught up in doing both the service to the machine and the video that I forgot to look into that problem. But it turns out that, even though the ribbon raises in the stencil position, it doesn't make an ink mark on the paper. Perhaps I'll get around to it when it needs a good cleaning, down the road.

[@sagat666]

Olympia SM3 de luxe foreverrrrrrrrrr

[@hamilton3901]

Hello Joe, i recently got hold of a 70's Hermes 3000 but now I struggle with getting the body off the machine. And as you own two of them (in case i remember correctly) I thought I could ask you for help on that one. Inside the body I saw some clips that look like they hold the whole thing toghether and may be released by applying some pressure on the body. My attempts in doing so didn´t show any success and I don´t wont to break the old plastic by using too much force. Is this even the correct way to release the body or am I having a misconception there? Thanks a lot! And keep up with your great videos, I really enjoy them!

[@Joe_VanCleave]

Yes, the clips along the front edge by the space bar are tricky. Plastic has to be bent to release them. The other tricky part is maneuvering the upper body shell to get it off around the carriage and return lever. As I recall, you have to raise the right side, move the carriage to the right, then rotate the upper body 90 degrees, move the carriage back to the left and you can maneuver the opening in the upper shell around the return lever on the carriage. There’s also the little carriage lock bracket, an L-shaped piece on the right side below the carriage, that needs to be unscrewed and moved out of the way, so the upper body shell can be removed.

[@hamilton3901]

Hi Joe, thanks a lot for your advice! It worked perfectly and against my darkest fears the old plastic didn´t crack. Actually it tolerated much more bending than I expected. After losening the clips on the back one by one I was able to let the clips on the front slide out of their position by pulling the upper half of the body a few millimeters towards the front. The lower part of the body just fell off, but with the upper half i wasn´t that lucky. After fiddling around for about 15 minutes I finally came to the realization that for the maintenace I have to do I don´t even need to remove it... so i let it on and now I continue with cleaning the segment and replacing the rubber bushings between the body and the machine. Again: Thank you so much for the quick answer!

[@Trevor-j8i]

I have one of these and the shift key is super stiff and will not fully depress. So I can only type in caps when I use the shift lock. Anyone got any ideas? It worked fine when I bought it, but while fixing some other issues this problem suddenly arose.

[@Joe_VanCleave]

You would have to retrace your steps around fixing the other problems, to see what might have been changed. Make sure the shift key bars are free to move; from there look into the linkages and bearing tracks that the segment move up and down on.

[@Trevor-j8i]

@@Joe_VanCleave Unfortunately retracing my steps isn't much of an option since this happened about 8 months ago. I got frustrated and put everything away for awhile, and have since forgotten those steps. I don't want to take up your time, but when you say are the shift key bars free to move, what exactly does that mean? I can see those bars and they will move IF I force them, but again, the shift keys are extremely stiff and even when forced, the slug basket(?) only lowers enough to print about half the capital letter. It lowers enough when I engage shift lock, but obviously this isn't very convenient.

[@adrianhouse9580]

Thanks a lot for the video. I just got one of these, my first machine. It seems like the ribbon only turns in one direction, clockwise. When I flick the ribbon reversing switch the ribbon just stays stationary instead of turning counter-clockwise. Also, the right cylinder knob doesn't seem to engage - left one works fine. That a problem? Any thoughts would be helpful, thanks a lot!

[@Joe_VanCleave]

The right platen knob turns, but doesn't turn the platen itself, but the left on does? Hmm ... I'd check the set screws that attach the right platen knob to its shaft, make sure they're tight. Also, I think there's a push-button in the center of the left platen knob (either that, or the left knob itself pulls out ... I can't remember which) that serves to disengage the line spacing ratchet. Make sure it's engaged. The ribbon reversing system can be complicated. It usually needs all the linkages under the ribbon spool area on both sides degreased and cleaned. Also, make certain the ribbon is threaded properly.

[@adrianhouse9580]

@@Joe_VanCleave Thanks so much for the reply. Knob is attached to its shaft, but when I pull it the shaft just comes right out (about 2 inches long) - looks like there's a screw on the platen that should hold it in, but I tried loosening and tightening that and it didn't change. Regardless, the left knob does turn the platen so maybe that's fine? Re. ribbon reversing, yes I think a good cleaning would probably be in order. I'll set aside a day for that and hopefully things will run smoother. I'll need to order a new ribbon for sure. Thanks again for your comments and the great video. Best, Adrian

[@ThBreadMan]

I'm looking at one on Ebay would It be worth picking it up?

[@Joe_VanCleave]

The concerns with purchasing online are: 1) You don't really know the true condition of the machine, unless you can see and test it in person; 2) It depends on the purchase price, and point 1 about condition; 3) Shipping typewriters without them getting damaged is expensive and requires particular attention be paid (on the part of the seller) to immobilizing the carriage and truly DOUBLE BOXING the machine with dense packing foam to protect it. In the typewriter world there are stories EVERY DAY of people receiving a machine damaged irreparably in shipment because the seller just threw it in a box with some foam peanuts or bubble wrap. The average seller just wants to offload the machine, they don't want a graduate course in how to pack a fragile and heavy object so it remains functional at its destination. I'd rather spend a bit more money and buy online from a real typewriter shop, who guarantee the machine and know how to safely pack it for shipment. I wish you good luck and happy typing!

[@ThBreadMan]

@@Joe_VanCleave I see thanks

[@ThBreadMan]

@@Joe_VanCleave well I took the risk but I'm not surprised and that happened to me sadly. The typewriter itself is relatively safe the case took the front of the damage keeping it safe I will be contacting the seller

[@g-r-a-e-m-e-]

How quiet is a Quiet-Riter?

[@Joe_VanCleave]

I’ll do a video soon comparing several of these machines.

[@gltwn]

more quiet than the Olympias for sure. The rubber on the platen is very thick